Pulaski And Geordi's Eyes...

[Farscape One]

I know this is in relation to the TNG movies, but I feel it belongs here more.

Geordi's new eyes... could they be the result of Dr. Pulaski herself, based on dialogue of a procedure she performed twice when mentioned "Loud As A Whisper"?

There were a number of years between that episode and FIRST CONTACT, when we first see him with those new eyes, so it is conceiveable improvements were made in said surgery where he could get the best of both worlds?

I like to at least think so. It gives Pulaski some more positive contributions than she has been given credit for.

 

[Kilana2]

Geordi had a lot of time to think about the surgery. I don't know if there any sources which say whether Beverly or Pulaski or someone else performed the surgery or where it took place. Geordi had the problem that his VISOR created pain and he got used to it.

 

[marlboro]

I think Geordie's eyes are a gift from some Hollywood hack who thought the visor looked stupid. You can also thank him for Big Bad Borg Queen and comic relief Data.

At least Bev didn't get squeezed into a catsuit.


But seriously, that thing had to be a pain for Levar Burton to wear. Hats off to him for giving as good of a performance as he did on the show without being able to emote with his eyes. I would have had zero problem with them having Pulaski help him in season 2. It just smacks of pointless Hollywood bs when they wait to do it in a movie.

Editedto add: it's too bad they didn't bring back Pulaski for season 7 considering how many episodes from that year were followups to previous stories.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

In my head canon, Geordi opted for the implants over the VISOR after it was used against him and the destruction of the E-D.

 

[Mojochi]

In my head canon, Geordi opted for the implants over the VISOR after it was used against him and the destruction of the E-D.

It was also used against him by the Romulans who brainwashed him, & even Lore wanted to tinker with it for god knows what. I'd think a few instances of having it exploited like that was plenty enough for him to opt out. IMHO.

It's not even the VISOR itself that is the real issue. It's having an external port that can offer direct access to him. That's a real vulnerability IMHO. Couple that with how many times the damn thing fell off & left him blind, & yeah, let's upgrade.

My head canon on this is even more involved, because of the difference in how his implants are shown to work, compared to how his VISOR did. The implants give him a much more natural vision than the visor, which saw things more as heat patterns, or infrared or whatever.

So where might an artificial eye get the kind of tech to simulate human vision, when his visor didn't, & Pulaski's implant was even lesser? My theory is that the tech came from his best friend Data's eyes. Soong's eye design combined with Pulaski's current artificial eye tech might've been the perfect solution

I like to think that after the D was destroyed. Geordi & Data began focusing on combining Soong eye design, artificial ocular implant tech, & visor tech, so that a marriage of all 3 could be offered, allowing him to switch around like a Predator does, & since it would be compatible for both humans & Soong androids, maybe Data upgraded too. So they both have the same eyes

 

[phantomeagle]

I remember that LeVar Burton once said, laughing, that the device that helped make a blind man see, actually had the opposite result in reality.

He said that he'd trip of stools, low benches, and such.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

I remember that LeVar Burton once said, laughing, that the device that helped make a blind man see, actually had the opposite result in reality.

He said that he'd trip of stools, low benches, and such.

The same way the Ferengi prosthesis made it hard to hear anything.

 

[Timo]

One thing of note about the new eyes of ST:FC, ST:INS and ST:NEM: they are quite unlikely to be implants.

That is, when the Fountain of Youth heals LaForge's eyes, he has healed eyes. His skull hasn't popped out two spherical implants in a gory act of rejection: the miracle has "restored" a pair of biological orbs into working order. (And never mind they never worked originally - LaForge says his optical nerve is the faulty bit, but we clearly see his actual eyes are opaque, too, and supposedly were that way when he was born already.)

Thus, the techno-eyes introduced in ST:FC would appear to be contacts instead. That is, they are flat replacement eyes that do all the seeing, not "lenses" in the strict sense of giving better vision to the biological eye beneath, nor "implants" that invasively replace the eye beneath - they are just shaped like contact lenses so that they can comfortably sit where most people have their seeing thingamabobs. When the eye beneath suddenly heals (that is, miraculously gains vision it never had before), LaForge apparently takes the contacts out and puts them in his pocket.

If so, they would appear unrelated to any of the cures suggested by Pulaski (new real eyes complete with new real optical nerves, or then artificial devices that look like real eyes) or Crusher (lobotomy so that the VISOR doesn't hurt so much, or painkillers to the same effect). They may represent LaForge giving up on being Superman and accepting a downgrade in the type of cybernetic hardware he wears - or then a miniaturization that does not involve a downgrade and may even involve an upgrade. From the output we see, and from LaForge's comments, we cannot deduce whether Geordi still enjoys his traditional and much-appreciated edge over mere humans, or has finally become an invalid who sees less than humans.

Timo Saloniemi

 

[JirinPanthosa]

The visor had its helpful moments too. Seeing structural weaknesses in Heart of Glory, seeing the neutrino beacon in The Enemy.